Portugal survive Russian roulette

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RUSSIA last night became the first team to take their leave of the European Championship finals, but their acrimonious departure — hastened by the red card shown to their goalkeeper, which prompted a supporter to circumvent lax security and berate the match officials — will hardly assuage the angst of the host nation. If Portugal are to avoid a similar fate, a trial of even greater magnitude stands ahead of them.

A game that Luiz Felipe Scolari, their head coach, had described as “life or death” did not bring Portugal the ultimate embarrassment of elimination, but their position in group